DA: The Incubator – A Design-First Program Built for Founders, By Designers

bradyux
May 22
3 min read

Illustration of remote startup founders working from futuristic home offices, connected by glowing holographic interfaces. Each person is immersed in their own environment but visually linked in a shared digital workspace. The image emphasizes collaboration, UX design, and virtual innovation. — Early-stage founders collaborating across time zones in DA: The Incubator — a remote-first program built for clarity, creativity, and connection.

When we launched Brady UX, we weren’t just building a studio — we were building a perspective. A perspective that says clarity should come before code, and that the right design decision can often solve a product problem faster than any growth hack or dev sprint.

Now, that philosophy has grown into something bigger.

We’re proud to introduce DA: The Incubator, a 6-week UX-led startup incubator for early-stage founders. It’s not about raising capital or chasing trends — it’s about helping people build real, useful, thoughtful products from the very start. And it’s live now at 👉 bradyux.com/incubator

Why We Built This

We’ve worked with a lot of founders — through pitch decks, platform pivots, early MVPs, and messy middle moments. One thing we kept seeing? Even the smartest, most passionate people were struggling to build with clarity.

They had:

A brilliant course, but no product flow.
A working prototype, but a frustrating user experience.
A landing page, but no real system.

What they needed was a UX partner — someone who could jump in, zoom out, and help them structure the experience like a real product. That’s what we do every day at Brady UX. And now we’re opening that process to more people, with DA.

What is DA: The Incubator?

DA (short for Design Alchemy) is a design-first incubator program. We’re helping early-stage founders take their ideas and shape them into functional, user-ready MVPs through UX strategy, mentorship, and actual design work.

🗓️ Program Length: 6 weeks

🚀 Cohort Launch: July 1, 2025

📬 Get updates or apply: bradyux.com/incubator

This isn’t a bootcamp. It’s not a course. It’s not about shiny visuals or pitching to VCs. It’s about:

Mapping your users and core flows
Defining what your MVP really is (and isn’t)
Getting feedback and guidance from experienced UX mentors
Walking away with real artifacts — not just advice

What You’ll Get

Each founder or team selected for the pilot cohort will receive:

A 1:1 onboarding session
A focused UX design sprint tailored to your needs
Weekly coaching check-ins
Async design reviews and guidance
Access to Figma templates, product tools, and community support

You’ll also have access to guest mentors throughout the program — experienced product designers, researchers, and accessibility experts who genuinely want to help founders build smarter.

Who It’s For

This program is designed for:

Solo founders or small teams
MVP-stage products
Early traction or just post-idea
Founders who care more about clarity than hype

You don’t need to be technical. You don’t need to have everything figured out. You just need to be coachable, user-centered, and ready to collaborate.

How It Works (Pricing + Tiers)

We know early-stage is different for everyone. So we’ve designed three participation tiers:

1. Free Tier

Includes a UX sprint and async support in exchange for a testimonial or case study.

2. Paid Tier ($1,500–$3,000)

Ideal for teams who want deeper design help (branding, landing pages, more screens). Sliding scale.

3. Equity/Rev Share Tier

For strong ideas with no budget. We take 2–5% equity or a small rev share with a cap.

Meet the Mentors

Our first mentor is Pavel Bukengolts of UX Design Lab, a UX leader and educator with 20+ years in digital transformation, accessibility, and system design. More mentors are being added now — from research experts to prototyping pros. Interested in mentoring? Email brady@bradyux.com.

How It Came Together

This started as an idea we casually floated in Slack — something Brady Starr had been thinking about for months. A way to help founders get the kind of UX support they didn’t even know they needed.

With encouragement from the Brady UX community, Slack collaborators, and early advisors like Pavel, the idea evolved into a real program — complete with a landing page, mentor outreach, a public application form, and a strong design perspective.

Everything’s been built intentionally, including the name: Design Alchemy. Because when you combine clarity, empathy, and structure — that’s when the magic happens.